Winds of Change
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: With a new Omnic threat rising in the Pacific, Lt. Jason Archer of Helix Security Intl. has been deployed to test a new weapon and aid the South Korean defense forces. Accompanied by a seasoned soldier and a feisty young MEKA pilot, the three will have to take to the skies and find a way to put down the Omnic threat together.
1. Birds of a Feather

**Note: Overwatch is property of Blizzard Entertainment. This story is set shortly after my other story Pilgrim's Path. While it's not necessary to read that one beforehand, it lays the groundwork for several original members returning after the Recall. This serves as a separate story that will intersect with the first one later on so until then, enjoy.**

* * *

Amid the clear blue mountain skies of Colorado, the sounds of whistling wind filled the special flight helmet of Lieutenant Jason Archer as he shifted his weight and made a swift evasive roll toward the ground. The winged jetpack that had been built into his aerial combat suit flared to life leaving a blue contrail as Jason made a steep dive back toward the grassy airfield below. As he adjusted his wings and tried to bank away at a sharp angle, he could hear the engineering ground crew squawking on the radio before another voice cut in over his own comm line.

"Nice maneuver Little Bird, but you're going to have to do better than that to shake me."

He turned his head and saw the imposing blue Raptora pattern armor of his fellow security officer Fareeha Amari close behind. The sun glinted off her heavier blue winged power armor and the yellow visor of Fareeha's helmet glowed with a golden sheen, giving off the appearance of a menacing beak. "You won't escape. I always get my prey!"

Jason tried another evasive maneuver as they neared the ground but his pursuer used her experience to restrict his moves and come in at a better attack angle. The jump jets of her aerial battle suit flared and she immediately overtook Jason and cut him off like a bird of prey diving upon a helpless victim.

As Fareeha made a victorious swoop over the ground, both comrades regrouped and gently glided toward the airstrip hangers where the engineering team was waiting for them. After cutting power, they touched down gently and caught their breath, but not before Jason folded back the retractable wings of his lighter combat suit. The younger security officer turned to his senior and gave a nod, "Nice move Captain. I almost thought I was going to be able to get away for a minute."

Fareeha smiled and removed her helmet revealing a strikingly beautiful Egyptian woman of about thirty with long black hair and dark Middle Eastern features. "Don't sell yourself too short Lieutenant. You still put up a good challenge out there."

Jason removed his own helmet revealing his own blue eyes and short dark brown hair which had been matted down by sweat. The young American man in his early twenties gave a tired nod in reply while opting for a more casual tone and use of her nickname, "Thanks Pharah. I'm still glad you could help with Project Zephyr's flight tests today and let me push the limits of this suit."

The project they had been referring to was a new experimental weapon system developed by their employer, the private global security firm, Helix Security International. While Helix had already developed powered flight suits with heavy armor and missile weapons like Pharah's to combat Omnic threats, Helix wanted to develop a category of faster lighter flying infantry. With the ability to quickly transition between ground combat and aerial support, Helix hoped that officers armed with the Zephyr suits could add a new element to their forces as skirmishers and recon units.

Pharah clapped Jason's shoulder and inspected the Zephyr equipment he wore: a special blue flight suit with temperature and pressure controls beneath assorted pieces of lightweight white colored body armor. At the back was a sleek jetpack thruster with retractable wings, "With a little more training and some fine tuning, I think these will make a fine addition to the arsenal."

Before the engineering crew could make their way over and recover more post flight data, they stopped as a tall well built African American man in military style khakis and a blue beret approached from the doors of the hanger. They all immediately recognized him as one of Helix Security's regional commanders, Thomas Stone. He was an older middle aged man and he wore a stoic expression while he strode forward carrying a folder. When he neared, he slowly removed his dark sunglasses, "Captain Amari. Lieutenant Archer."

Both Helix Security officers stood at attention, "Commander Stone, sir!"

"At ease," he said giving an easy wave, "I came today to check up on the progress of Project Zephyr. Lieutenant Archer, I understand you've been volunteering to serve as the test operator?"

"Yes sir. I was just running some flight maneuvers with Captain Amari so that we could get a better gauge of the suit's capabilities," Jason answered.

The Commander gave a satisfied nod and turned to the older Asian American engineering chief nearby, "Mr. Wong, do you think Zephyr will be ready for field testing in a true combat scenario?"

Wong hesitated and rubbed the back of his neck, "That's hard to say, sir. This current battle suit has passed the initial tests but we haven't run it with its full weapon systems yet."

Cmdr. Stone turned back to Jason and eyed the battle suit, "What about you Lieutenant? What do you think about the readiness of Zephyr?"

"I feel confident in the weapon systems sir. I'm ready for whatever you need me to do."

Cmdr. Stone nodded, "For the assignment I have in mind, I look forward to seeing how it performs alongside the Raptora suit as well."

Jason blinked in surprise, "Wait… are you asking for me to fly a mission alongside Captain Amari?"

Stone reached into a file folder that he had tucked under his arm and handed it to Jason, "We've received reports that there is a growing Omnic threat in the East China Sea. South Korea's defense forces have requested the help of Helix in the region so we're deploying Captain Amari. I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to field test the Zephyr and get some hands on experience from a veteran officer too... that is, if you think you're up to it."

The younger man nodded enthusiastically, "Yes sir! I'm looking forward to seeing some action."

Fareeha regarded him levelly, "As long as you're under my watch, no unnecessary risks. We're there to be professional and do our jobs well. Is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am," Jason replied while straightening up again.

Cmdr. Stone turned on his heel and headed off to his waiting car parked around the corner of the hanger, "Very good. I'll be looking forward to seeing some good results from the both of you. Until then, I suggest you pack your bags and prep your battle suits. Your plane for Korea leaves in twelve hours."

* * *

The droning sound of the jet plane's turbine engines hummed rhythmically as Jason restlessly stirred in his seat. He had spent the last sixteen hours flying over the Pacific Ocean in the Helix Securities chartered airplane and he gave a relieved sigh after checking a nearby video monitor. According to the course map, they were nearing Korean airspace. By his estimation, they were probably an hour or so away from the capital of Seoul.

As Jason zipped up his dark blue duty jacket and stretched his legs, Pharah calmly turned a page of the book she had been reading and gave a sideways glance to her younger charge that sat beside her, "I know how you feel Little Bird. I don't like flying through the air while being cooped up in a plane either."

He gave a mildly exasperated sigh, "You must really get a kick out of that silly nick-name."

Phara laughed gently and closed her book, "Well, what else am I supposed to call you? You are my responsibility and I am the Big Bird around here after all."

"Funny. I thought Big Bird was tall, yellow, and lived on Sesame Street," Jason retorted earning himself a light shove in the arm.

Over the course of the year since Captain Fareeha Amari had transferred to the Helix Securities base in the US, the two had developed a friendly working rapport with each other. In many ways, the dynamic was was one of a playful sibling relationship with Fareeha taking on the role of a responsible older sister. She had been brought on to offer her input into the development of the Zephyr Project and Jason admired her competence and poise. Although she was often reluctant to talk about her past service record, such as stopping the renegade Omnic god program Anubis in Egypt, Jason couldn't help but look up to her for her courage and stoic heroism.

Although he was still a junior security officer, Fareeha had recognized Jason as a rising star with similar traits, disciplined and reliable but also very ambitious and eager to prove himself. During her time on the project, she had quite literally taken him under her wing and begun to mentor him too, both as a security officer and as a combat flyer.

"I take it you have a lot on your mind?" she asked off handedly as a flight attendant made one last round and asked if anyone wanted some coffee or tea.

Jason sat back in his seat and gave a sheepish look, "Sorry Pharah. I guess it's just the nerves getting to me a little bit. I worked really hard to help get the Zephyr project this far and I want it to go well. Cmdr. Stone is counting on us to give a good showing to our allies."

"I would be more concerned with focusing on the battle plans and the strength of the enemy," Pharah said in a solemn voice while pensively glancing out the plane's window. "Omnics are masters of adapting to their battlefields and we have to treat them as a very credible threat. This might be your first major engagement with them so I don't want you to get too careless or overconfident in battle."

Jason nodded, "I won't. I guess I just don't know how to feel about all this if it comes to a fight. I mean training exercises are one thing, but taking on some kill-bots in real life is something else entirely."

"You learn to live with it," Pharah said, "It is the nature of our jobs after all. If we're going to be protecting others, then we have to do so with clear heads and no fear in our hearts."

"Protecting others..." Jason mused, "Pharah, do think that's really what we do? What Helix really stands for?"

She frowned slightly in confusion, "What do you mean?"

He thought over his words and grimaced slightly, "If you think about it, those of us who work for Helix and these other private security firms... we're kinda like private armies. In a way, that essentially makes us mercenaries. We don't exactly just pick up and go to places because there's trouble there. We go because someone tells us to go and pays us to do it."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't take away from the good deeds we've done or other lives we've saved before."

Jason looked to her pointedly, "Of course. I'm not arguing that. I'm just questioning the reasons why we're doing the things that we are."

"I don't understand," Pharah replied in a serious tone meeting his eyes, "What are you getting at Jason? Helix Securities may not be the most ideal business, but it's the best way we can do good in the world. Why else would you have joined too?"

"Because I wanted to do the next best thing to Overwatch."

Pharah stopped and blinked in startled confusion, "What did you say?"

"Overwatch," Jason answered with a sigh, "When I was a little kid growing up, I idolized Overwatch and I looked up to their heroes. They were the ones who put down the first Omnic threat. They returned some measure of peace and order to the world. I wanted to be just like them and I wanted to join the organization."

Pharah looked at her younger friend and her expression softened, "Overwatch has been disbanded for five years. It doesn't exist anymore."

"I know that," he nodded before pointing to his heart, "But it still kinda does in here. I heard a lot of things about why it fell apart and how it met a violent end, but part of me still has a hard time believing all that. Sounds pretty childish, doesn't it?"

Pharah smiled gently and shook her head, "No. I don't think so. If I can be completely honest with you, I felt the same way for a long time. I had wanted to join Overwatch too and I didn't want to believe the stories that came out about them."

"Including your mother?" Jason asked, "I know she had served in Overwatch before."

Pharah nodded and glanced away momentarily, "Yes. Including her."

She looked out the window and fell silent for a moment before speaking again, "I understand the way you feel Little Bird. The world has changed and in some ways, it's a much more dangerous place. Helix might not be Overwatch, but it's a means to an end. It's the best we can do to help others in places where we can. Best that we make due with the hand we are dealt... or so the expression goes."

"Yeah... you're right Pharah. Thanks," Jason said while settling in for the remainder of the flight, "In the mean time, I think I'm going to make the most of our current hand and catch a quick nap before we land."

* * *

Some time later that day, the plane touched down at seaside airstrip in Incheon, just outside of Seoul, South Korea. As Jason and Pharah stepped off the plane with their bags, they stopped to supervise some of the workers who unloaded two crates from the cargo hold of the small jet. Inside the crates were their battlesuits, the Zephyr and Raptora. As they watched the containers get loaded and secured, they could hear the sounds of the ocean waters not far from their location. By their estimation, the ocean sounded loud and restless while a large thick front of dark clouds hung over the ocean horizon.

The light of the sun had dimmed and the coming storm clouds loomed ominously while the wind picked up into a steady gust. Pharah looked to the skies and frowned in concern, "A storm is coming. That's not good for us."

She was right. Although both their combat suits were designed for use in all types of weather situations, flying in the middle of a raging storm still posed a significant risk. The biggest threat of all was that of becoming a prime target for lightning in the skies. Unlike the size and shielding that most airplanes had, human operators wearing jetpacks and body armor were afforded very little protection against such a phenomenon. To make matters worse, storms reduced visibility and created dangerous pockets of unstable air and crosswinds.

"Hmm, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. I'll bet it'll blow over soon enough," Jason shrugged as he huddled into his jacket and hefted his bag, "Come on. We should get to the nearest terminal and check in with our contact here."

Pharah nodded and began to follow him when both security officers halted at the shrill siren that suddenly pierced the air. Jason and Pharah exchanged a quick look of confusion as the siren continued to wail and several people on the airstrip began to flee for safety.

"What is going on here?" Jason shouted as he covered his ears to muffle the sounds of a nearby alarm.

"Sounds like an air raid siren!" Pharah called out as they doubled backed and went toward the crates containing their gear.

"An air raid? For real?" Jason shouted trying to scan the area for enemies, "Where is the attack coming from?"

Pharah's features became darker and more grim as she clambered up the cart and stood atop the container which held her armor. She scanned their surroundings with the sharp eyes of a practiced hunter before pointing out to the distance. Jason clambered up the container and followed her finger which was pointing west. From their vantage point on the seaside airstrip, they could see the dark choppy waters of the ocean to the west and in the far distance,an unusual sight was beginning to unfold.

The two Helix security officers watched in awed horror as large metallic pod shaped vessels surfaced from underneath the waters in the near distance. As the pods opened, clouds of winged robotic drones emerged and buzzed into a holding pattern to gather their forces while other pods released small robotic landing crafts. Aboard those craft appeared to be a robotic infantry force of Omnic sentry-bots.

"What the hell..." Jason muttered in dread, "There's so many of them."

He was snapped back to attention as Pharah jumped down from the container and began to reach for a key coded security pad built in. As she typed in her clearance codes, Jason looked down in shock, "Pharah... what are you doing?"

She unlocked the container and looked up with quick but stone cold expression, "I'm going to fight. Come on. It's time to suit up."

"Wait... what? Here?" he balked while gesturing to the threatening Omnic invasion force coming from the sea, "Are you insane?

Pharah disregarded the outburst and quickly began to slip on her armor while assembling it in a hurry, "You said you wanted to see some action and protect people, didn't you? Now is your chance to do your duty."

Jason paused at the statement and quickly nodded in assent. As he opened the container holding his own battle suit, Pharah continued on grimly, "Until the South Korean defense forces can respond, we'll have to do our best to try and slow down the assault."

The younger security officer hustled and threw on his suit along with the jetpack and armor pieces. In separate boxes, the two comrades found weapons that had been shipped over with them. Pharah held up a rocket launcher and loaded it with ordnance while Jason clipped a plasma pistol to his side and prepped his primary weapon, a small carbine energy rifle. The older of the two officers strapped her weapon into place and put on her helmet before turning around, "Weapons are secure. All flight control systems are go. Lieutenant?"

Jason followed suit by putting on his helmet and lowering his visor. He gave a tense thumbs up while trying to keep his own adrenaline in check, "Ready when you are Captain."

Pharah nodded and fired up her jump jets, taking off from the ground in a cloud of dust. The female warrior in blue powered armor resembling a hunting bird took off into the skies and steeled herself for the battle ahead. As the dark storm clouds drew closer and the incoming swarm of Omnic invaders approached from the sea, the newly christened Zephyr extended his wings out and fired his jetpack. As Jason Archer took off into the skies and followed close behind Pharah, he looked at the horde of robotic foes arrayed against them and made two silent wishes: that the suit would perform well in battle, and that it wouldn't be the only time he'd ever get to test it.


	2. Wargames

As the skies continued to darken, the invading Omnics looked up into the air to see two blue streaks coming toward them. Pharah led the way and reared up before some of the incoming Omnic infantry. She spread her wings while hovering and took aim before giving a defiant shout, "Justice rains from above!"

The launchers on her Raptora flight suit opened and let loose a barrage of missiles down on the encroaching sentry-bots. Explosions ripped up the beach and tore through the first rank of robots while Jason swooped in for a follow up attack using his Wind Strafer carbine to rain down a hail of energy bolts on the enemy. Several sentry droids fell to the strafing attack while many others turned their arm cannons skyward and began trying to shoot down their airborne opponents.

The two security officers wove through the ground fire and banked around to set up for another pass while some of the flying Omnic drones gave chase. Amid the gusting storm winds and the screaming sounds of the drones' engines, Pharah gestured to Zephyr and gave a hand signal. The two split off in different directions and drew away several drones each before moving to take them on.

Pharah glanced over her shoulder and fired her jets in the opposite direction to abruptly cut her speed before pulling a roll maneuver as the pursuing Omnic drones began to roar by her. She fired her hand held rocket launcher while rolling and took out several of them before changing direction again. Meanwhile, Zephyr took off into a steep climb and dodged the fire of the droids behind. As they began to lose speed from their vertical climb, Jason briefly cut his jet's power and pulled an aileron roll past the drones. With several of them in the crosshairs, he shot them down with his rifle along with a pair of smaller missile pod launchers which had been built into the suit's weapon systems.

The two comrades regrouped in midair and surveyed the situation with growing despair. They had put a dent in the invading force, but only two defenders were not going to be enough to stop the relentless advance of the killer robots. Jason glanced over while they hovered, "Things are not looking good Captain. At this rate, the Omnics are going to reach the airport and overrun the place."

Pharah nodded and studied the terrain, "We can't let them gain a beachhead to attack the city. We need to keep fighting."

Before the two Helix agents could carry out another attack on the robots, they stopped as they saw a cloud of small mechanized battle walkers jetting onto the scene from the direction of the city. The tops of them almost resembled small harrier jets with robotic legs and two arms mounted with fusion cannons on the end. Jason frowned, "I'm hoping that's the cavalry?"

Pharah blinked in surprise before giving a slow nod, "Looks like a MEKA unit. South Korean defense forces."

Leading the MEKA squadron was a unique pink colored mech with what looked be to be some corporate sponsorship logos emblazoned along the topsides. As the allied units soared over the Incheon Airport, Pharah and Jason received a comm. signal on their radio channel. It sounded like it was coming from the pink mecha and the voice sounded like that of a young woman with an Asian inflection, "Clear out noobs! MEKA leads the way!"

"Who is this? Can we offer any more assistance?" Pharah radioed back.

The female MEKA pilot in the pink aircraft replied quickly, "The name's Hana. Just stay out of the way and let us handle this."

On the general line, they heard Hana radio her squadmates, "All right team, let's shoot for a new high score and own these bots!"

Jason glanced to Pharah and shrugged before they formed up and fell in line with the allied mechas. "Well… she sounds charming."

The MEKA pilots chattered in Korean before fanning out in midair and making a direct attack on the Omnics. The mechas unloaded with their arm mounted fusion cannons and began to tear through the robots, while strafing over the beach and landing on some of the sea based platforms. The pink pilot who had identified herself as Hana swiftly blasted through the thick of the fighting trampling Omnic foot soldiers and unleashing blistering torrents of weapons fire.

Despite the return fire from the robots, their weapons deflected off the thick heavy armor of the MEKA units causing only minimal damage. Pharah and Jason swooped in at Hana's flanks helping to cover her with their own fire as they made a precision airstrike. Jason turned his head slightly while roaring by and gave a call, "Hey Pinky, watch your six. The Omnics aren't playing games here."

The pink mecha spun on its axis and gunned down several Omnics surrounding her in an impressive maneuver before taking off to join the two fliers. The female pilot radioed back with a smug smile, "Maybe you didn't know, but games are my thing and I play to win."

Pharah ignored the comment and focused on the largest of the Omnic platforms which floated in the shallow waters unloading more attack forces. "How about we play destroy that weapons platform over there? If we can destroy it, we just might be able to cripple their force."

"All right! I'm game," Hana replied abruptly steering her mecha toward the large aquatic pod ship, "Let's party up. Cover me rocket boy, I'm going in!"

Zephyr sputtered in surprise and roared after her to try and catch up. While Pharah worked on holding off more flying drones above, the Pink mecha activated what looked to be some sort of energy force field which projected out and deflected a lot of incoming fire from the Omnic platform. Jason stayed behind his new ally watching their attack vector before peeling off at the last minute and shooting rockets at the pod ship's gun emplacements. Several rockets hit while others only scored glancing blows from the off balance attack.

Zephyr swooped clear and made an abrupt braking motion to regain flight control while Hana's mecha landed on the Omnic platform with a heavy thud. She glanced toward her new comrade and chided him lightly over the comms, "Come on rocket boy, are you even trying?"

She turned her cannons downward and fired a concentrated stream of energy bolts to carve a hole though the top layers of the pod ship's hull. Once she did, she dropped a large explosive canister below the decks before firing her boosters and taking back off into the skies. As she gained more altitude, the explosives went off and erupted into a brilliant superheated fireball which ripped through the Omnic carrier platform. As a fiery cloud of smoke billowed upward and the platform sunk into the waters, the Omnics below suddenly began to lose focus and direction. From the cockpit of her craft, Hana laughed triumphantly, "Game over! I'm still Number One"

"We must have hit their command and control," Pharah remarked as she flew by and rejoined the two. As the other South Korean MEKA units finished mopping up the newly routed Omnic drones on the beach, Jason gave a thumbs up toward the pink mecha.

"Hey, nice moves out there girl. That was pretty impressive."

The pink mecha gave a small wave and changed course to jet away back to its home base, "Thanks. You guys weren't too bad either. Maybe with a little more skill and practice you could rank up and be a pro like me one day."

Jason blinked in surprise and turned to Pharah with an incredulous look, "I'm not sure whether to feel flattered or patronized right now."

Pharah simply laughed and directed her younger comrade to follow her as they and the other MEKA pilots regrouped and headed back for their home base amid the rainstorm which was now beginning to break out along the coastline.

* * *

After a short flight from the beaches, the two Helix security officers landed at a military airfield just outside of the city of Seoul and just beating the rain. Unlike other airbases with long runways, this installation seemed more fitted for accommodating and servicing the unique flying mecha units. The units touched down in groups and landed near hangers while service crews and base mechanics hurried out to attend to them.

Zephyr and Pharah touched down with the pink mecha and powered down their flight suits as the mecha taxied in for service. Jason folded his wings back into place and approached the parked mecha while Pharah came along and removed her menacing helmet as well. To their surprise, the rear hatch of the war machine opened and a young woman dismounted from the cockpit. She was an attractive girl of around twenty with a slim figure and long dark brown hair. Her flight suit consisted of a predominantly blue and white unitard and a headset with small pink antennae coming from the headphones.

She stopped to catch her breath and flip her hair back as she removed a pink mobile phone from the mech and posed to take a victorious selfie. The two Helix agents exchanged a curious look before Pharah cleared her throat, "Excuse me miss, I was wondering if you could help us. I am Captain Fareeha Amari and this is my associate Lt. Jason Archer. We're with Helix Security International and we were to assigned to try and make contact with the Korean military forces."

"Well you came to the right place," the girl replied shaking Pharah's hand, "And you're asking the right person. My name is Hana. Hana Song. Maybe you've heard of me?"

The two Helix agents exchanged a blank look and shrugged as she continued to prompt them, "I also go by the call-sign D. VA? Same as my gaming handle?"

Pharah raised an eyebrow as Hana pressed on in mild indignation, "You guys are familiar with E-Sports, aren't you? Video games? The Pro Gaming Circuit?"

"Err... no. Sorry," Jason admitted with an apologetic shrug.

"Seriously?" Hana huffed, "Are you guys living under a rock? Tch. I didn't think a bunch of flying commandos were going to be so boring and lame."

"What? Lame?" Jason bristled slightly, "After we just helped you and your MEKA pals turn back the Omnics out there? We don't have to take any lip from some little gremlin show-off either."

"Gremlin? Who are you calling a gremlin?" Hana exclaimed defensively before Pharah stepped in.

"All right now. Settle down everyone. Maybe we can get some answers over there."

She pointed as an older South Korean military officer came walking out to meet the MEKA pilots. He was a shorter man, smartly dressed with graying air and wise patrician features. As he approached, he gave a curious look to the two foreigners before breaking into a subdued smile, "You must be the two Helix Security Flyers who were coming to join us. I received word you would be arriving sometime soon... just not in the way I expected. Welcome to South Korea. I am Colonel Byung-joon Park."

Pharah and Jason gave polite nods in greeting and introduced themselves to the base commander. Colonel Park looked to the threatening skies and gestured for them to follow him back to his offices, "Come with me. We can speak in my office away from the rains and have some tea. Miss Song, would you care to join us?"

Hana shrugged and followed the three as they made their way off the busy air field and into a quieter complex within the base. It wasn't particularly large or luxurious but the two security officers didn't mind. They were used to relatively simple and functional accommodations. As they sat down in Colonel Park's office, the rain began to pour outside and an adjutant brought in a hot teakettle along with some cups. Amid the pitter patter of rain, they settled in and poured some tea to relax and warm up before Colonel Park sat back in his chair to address the visitors, "I see you two have already met Hana. She's quickly proven herself to be one of our best pilots."

Jason glanced over to where Hana was sitting and saw her idly playing a game on her smartphone. She gave a cherubic smile and went back to her phone as he nodded to Park, "Yes sir. Miss Song had given us quite a demonstration out there. If you don't mind me saying, I can't help but notice that you had a lot of human pilots out there in the mecha suits. I was under the impression that the South Korean MEKA forces were all drones."

Col. Park nodded, "Ah yes... in a way you are correct. They used to be drones but conditions have changed. Several years ago, a titanic Omnic threat began to rise from the East China Sea and it threatened Seoul. We named that monster Colossus. It was driven back under the waters and remained dormant and hidden for several years, until now. We had used drone weapons before but the Omnics adapted and our drone systems were compromised. That's when we switched over to using pilots."

Pharah nodded thoughtfully, "I saw many of the pilots looked a bit young... and didn't exactly give off a formal military bearing either."

She glanced to Hana and raised a polite hand, "No offense Miss Song."

"Oh none taken," Hana replied offhandedly while continuing to diddle on her phone's game apps. Col. Park grimaced, "About that... when the MEKA program transitioned over, we were short of manpower and resources so we decided to tap into one of our country's resources. We decided to recruit professional gamers into our ranks."

Pharah and Jason exchanged incredulous looks before Park continued, "Yes I know it sounds far fetched, but you would be surprised. Many of these candidates such as Miss Song here have demonstrated exceptional reflexes, adaptability, and drive which work well when coupled to the battle systems of the mecha. Because of their well... unique situation, many of these pilots are technically employed by the military, but not formally part of the military either."

"It can actually be kind of a nice thing," Hana added with a smile, "I still get plenty of free time and chances to give live shows to all my admiring fans online. If you two are lucky, maybe I'll give you some guest exposure on my next stream."

"Wait... you actually stream combat operations?" Jason asked in shock.

Pharah shook her head and turned back to Col. Park, "Colonel... Lt. Archer and I were sent here to assist your forces in repelling an Omnic threat. We've already beaten back a first wave today. What else can we expect?"

Park folded his hands, "For now, all we can do is play a waiting game. There have been sporadic Omnic attacks like this one, but never as large or concentrated either. The fact that this was more organized and aggressive is worrying."

Jason nodded, "All right... do we know where exactly these Omnic are coming from? Is something stirring them up? Is there some omnium factory underwater that we can't get to?

"Again, the intel on that is very vague. We haven't had a problem like this in quite a while and it will take time to gather some useful data. Until then, I'm requesting that you and Captain Amari remain nearby and ready to scramble at a moment's notice. I've been told you two are both exceptional officers and excellent flyers. If the initial reports I got about your battle earlier are true, then I have no doubt we made the right choice in asking for help from Helix."

The colonel turned his head and cleared his throat, "Hana, I'd like you to act as Ms. Amari and Mr. Archer's guide while they're here."

Hana gave a reluctant sigh and nodded as she put down her phone and tried paying more attention to the meeting, "Yeah sure. I guess I could do that."

Colonel Park nodded and poured himself some more tea before offering to refill everyone's cup, "Excellent. In that case, let's drink to a good new alliance and success against the next Omnic attack."

* * *

Meanwhile in the downtown city of Seoul, a woman stood alone on the rooftops of one of the taller buildings. She paced near a radio signal tower that had been built atop the building which housed a large local telecommunications company. The woman paused and watched the large dark front of storm clouds moving in closer to the city proper but didn't seem particularly bothered. She was in no rush and she had time. In the distance, she had seen some flashes and what was likely some signs of battle between the local Korean defense forces and the Omnic droids from the sea. Again, they woman didn't seem to pay it much mind and wore a look with more casual amusement than anything.

She pulled her long coat around her which was colored with a mixture of black leathers and pinkish purple hues to contrast. She ran a hand through her long dark hair on the half of her head that wasn't shaved and she pulled out a small tablet device. The hacker began to type in a few commands and easily accessed the power telecommunication signal tower. She skillfully typed in several more commands and ended the program causing her modified signal which she was broadcasting for now to be ended. That was enough for now. She had been successful and it looked like her signal to attract Omnics was working. She just had to modify her work more and prepare to catch some larger bait.

The tan skinned female hacker tucked away her small tablet in her coat and headed back inside the building with a casual whistle. The notorious female hacker known only as Sombra smiled in self satisfaction. It was only a matter of time before she would be able to get what she wanted. If that meant sacrificing Seoul or all of South Korea to do it, then that was only a small price to pay.


	3. Means, Motives, & Opportunities

Over the next few days, Fareeha and Jason spent some time getting acquainted with their new surroundings. They were stationed at the same Korean airbase as the MEKA units and they were allowed limited access to some of the areas on the base grounds. During that downtime, the two Helix agents took the opportunity to exercise and service their battle gear. At night, they began making reports back to their own superiors as well. While Fareeha outlined the battle with the first Omnic wave, Jason worked to organize the data collected from the Zephyr suit's performance in battle. At the very least, things were looking positive in that regard.

During the late afternoon of the third day, the two Helix agents sat at the doors to one of the open hangars cleaning their firearms. Soon enough, several MEKA units returned from a training exercise and taxied into the hangars for servicing. On that particular day, Hana's pink mecha led the group inside and the squadron went through their power down sequence. After shutting down her mecha and exiting from the hatch, Hana Song shook out her hair for a moment and took a minute to finish speaking into a personal video device she used for streaming to her fans. The small camera which hovered nearby her shut off and she exchanged some waves and pleasantries with her fellow pilots who couldn't have been that much older than she was.

Jason watched her for a minute before Fareeha caught on and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head and spoke in an amused voice while dutifully kept cleaning her weapon, "I don't suppose you're looking to pick another fight with the Gremlin again... are you?"

"What? No," Jason frowned mildly before returning to work on his own weapon, "I was just thinking about something."

"Oh? And what was that?" Fareeha asked.

"I was thinking that we take an opportunity to sightsee while we're here in Seoul," the younger security officer remarked, "Colonel Park told us that Miss Song would be assigned to help us out around here, right? I figured maybe since we have some free time, we should take a tour of the city and she could show us around."

"You do realize that the Omnics could attack again at any time, right?" Fareeha asked pointedly before wiping down her rocket launcher some more.

"We'd be back in a heartbeat to help," Jason replied in a cajoling tone, "Think of it as doing some reconnaissance of our new area."

Fareeha glanced at him and chuckled, "Ah, I see. Well in that case, I think I'll just leave you to it. I'm actually planning on staying here tonight and doing some work on something... I guess you could call it a personal project of mine."

Jason faltered a moment before rising to his feet from the crate he was sitting on, "Oh... okay. You're sure? You really trust me to go out and try to make nice with our new friend over there?"

Fareeha gave an amused wave from where she was sitting, "Sure. Look at it as a chance to help Helix build some good relations with the locals... or at the very least, you."

Jason gave a mild frown to his companion before setting his weapon down and marching over to where Hana was finishing up with her fellow pilots. He straightened the front of his duty jacket and cleared his throat before greeting the MEKA pilot with a short courteous nod, "Miss Song."

Hana turned to address him and gave a mildly amused smirk, "Hey, it's Rocket Boy. I thought I told you my name was D. VA, remember?"

"Funny, I could have sworn it was Gremlin," Jason retorted as he began walking with her out of the hanger. She shot a quick sidelong glance at the verbal repartee before smiling in amusement.

"What can I do for you Lt. Archer?"

"Jason," he corrected her, "I was wondering if I could ask for your help. I was planning on going into the city to sightsee tonight and I figured I could probably use a tour guide."

"Are you going to pay me or something?" Hana asked in a mild challenge.

Jason shrugged, "Tell you what, I'll cover any snacks... maybe a meal if you're a good tour guide."

"Just you?"

Jason nodded, "Yeah. Captain Amari opted to stay in tonight. Is something wrong?"

"Funny, it almost sounds like you're asking me out on a date here," Hana said while maintaining her amused and breezy attitude as she walked. "What if I was planning on staying in for a game night tonight?"

"Then you're free to stay in. I was only asking for a tour out of professional courtesy here," Jason answered nonchalantly, "What do you say Miss Song?"

"Hana," she corrected him before raising a finger officiously, "And I say, get dressed. The next train headed back to the city leaves in an hour."

* * *

Meanwhile on the outskirts of the city, the hacker named Sombra returned to the place she had set aside for her temporary makeshift lair. While she was in Seoul, she had found an old abandoned warehouse in the industrial district and decided to call it home for now. It was a little more dark and dingy than she cared for but the relative quiet and isolation of the spot suited her just fine. She had set up a workstation, several computer monitors and a handful of other consoles to do her work. The glow from the screens were the only source of light in the foreboding place and a few rats scurried by, stopping to stare a moment at Sombra before she froze them with a malicious scowl.

"Shoo!"

At that, the rats scrambled away in fear as Sombra smiled to herself and went back to her normally cool snakelike demeanor. The criminal hacker made her way over toward her chair to sit down and analyze some more of the data she had collected recently before an image popped up on one of her bigger screens.

To her surprise, she saw a dark sinister visage of a man in a skull mask cloaked in a black hood. To many, he was only known as Reaper and he was one of the dangerous criminal leaders of a worldwide terrorist organization called Talon. Reaper tilted his head and spoke in his deep menacing voice, "Sombra, I've been looking for you."

Sombra smiled lazily and waved her hand in a flippant breezy expression while lounging down in a chair, " _Hola Reaper._ I didn't expect to hear from you so soon."

Reaper growled slightly, "You're still in South Korea. What is so important that you're wasting valuable time and resources there?"

Sombra laughed lightly, "Wasting? Oh no Reaper. I'm not costing Talon a thing. Remember, I'm here on my own time with a personal project... or perhaps you can call it an investment for the future."

"Well whatever it is, I want you to hurry up with it," Reaper said impatiently, "We're going to need your skills for a new operation in the future and I don't want any unnecessary delays."

" _No te preocupes_ , (Don't worry) I won't be much longer," Sombra sighed as she reached for her keyboard, "If all goes well, I should have what I need in the next few days."

She pressed a button ending the video feed and cutting off the transmission with Reaper, "Boop."

As Sombra sat back in her chair and idly spun around, she made a fox-like smirk and gave some thought to her next course of action. She still had some work to do if she was going to boost that Omnic signal. If she could succeed in her goals here, then it wouldn't be long before she would be rich and powerful enough to call the shots over Reaper himself. With any luck, she might have a seat on Talon's senior council, but at least for the moment, time was on her side.

* * *

That evening, Fareeha Amari walked into one of the Korean military base's air command and control rooms. She was escorted by Colonel Park who was allowing her access to test some ideas about how to stop the Omnic threat. Fareeha studied a large digital map of the region and scratched her chin. Park folded his arms patiently, "Do you see anything unusual Captain Amari? Maybe something of interest?"

Fareeha shook her head, "No, I'm not so much worried about what we can see... more like what we can't."

Some of the control room operators exchanged puzzled looks while Col. Park raised an eyebrow, "Oh? What are you getting at?"

Fareeha ambled over to some of the control operators at their stations, "I'm curious about scanning the region for any kind of radio waves, sub sonic transmissions, or maybe some kind of unusual EM emissions?"

"What are you looking for exactly?"

Fareeha frowned slightly to herself, "I'm not certain yet. I was thinking that something must have been stirring the Omnics up and attracting them from the ocean. I wanted to know if it was anything on our end... like if Seoul was giving off any strange signals, radiation, anything. I've dealt with highly advanced Omnic AI's before and I can tell you from experience that they can use that as a method to remotely control lesser Omnics. If the Anubis program could do that, then there's reason to think a lesser Omnic AI could do the same too."

Park nodded to his men and the controllers adjusted the sensors to monitor the new search parameters. After a short while, a glowing red sound wave blip appeared and looked to be pinging from somewhere on the other side of the city. They watched in surprise as the soundwave continued to radiate out and spread out several miles into the open ocean.

"Colonel, we're picking up an unidentified signal coming from a rogue broadcast channel," one of the techs called out, "Whatever it is, it's a signal we haven't seen before and it's powerful. This is no ham radio either. That rogue signal has some range on it."

Fareeha continued to watch the pinging blip before looking over her shoulder, "Can you get an exact trace on it?"

"We're working on it Ma'am," one of the other techs replied as the operators busily clacked away at their workstations.

Just then, Col. Park gestured to the screen with wide eyes, "Captain Amari... look!"

Fareeha turned back to the screen and stared in shock as a small host of red dots marked as hostile Omnics began to surface from points in the ocean and move slowly toward the city of Seoul, "Interesting..."

Before she could process any more of the situation, one of the other techs called out, "I think we've got a lock on the signal. It's coming from an industrial district just outside the city."

Fareeha stopped and nodded grimly to herself before turning to Col. Park, "Colonel, I suggest you scramble your forces to meet the Omnics and get a hold of Lt. Archer and Miss Song."

Col. Park frowned slightly, "Captain? What about you? Where are you going?"

Fareeha looked back to the display screen with the rogue signal, "I'm going to try to end this battle in the quickest way I know how."

* * *

Elsewhere, Jason Archer made his way down the bright bustling boulevards of downtown Seoul. Colorful neon billboards lit up the plazas and streets while he and Hana strolled through the city's most vibrant entertainment district. The colorful flashing of lights and narrowness of some sidestreets which had been dedicated for pedestrians gave an unusually intimate and neighborly feel to the place. At the same time, the aesthetics reminded Jason of something akin to the night lights of Las Vegas. From what he could see, the city of Seoul had a very modern appearance while at the same time keeping a sense of old and exotic flair that was difficult to describe.

After having dressed down to civilian clothes and touring some of the local sites earlier in the evening, the two stopped for some food in an outdoor cafe near a large lit up fountain in a plaza. The evening air was clear and cool and the light breeze was a refreshing feeling after being cooped up in the stuffy airbase for the past few days. As they began their meal, Hana watched in amusement as Jason poked at a small bowl of fermented cabbage that went with the food, "Not a big fan of kimchi, huh?"

"Sorry," he replied passing off the bowl and going for some ramen noodles and barbecue chicken skewers instead, "It's been three days and it still hasn't taken yet. Speaking of fans..."

He pointed as several young people who looked to be teenagers approached hesitantly. The young Koreans looked to be a mixed group of boys and girls carrying pens and pictures and they sheepishly came over. Despite not knowing what they were saying, Jason picked up enough to know they were asking if they had spotted, "D. VA"

Hana waved them over and put on a cutesy demeanor. She spoke a few words to them in her tongue and signed a few autographs before waving goodbye, "Thanks for all the love!"

When the teens had left the table, Jason smiled, "I guess we should have been a little more low key than sitting out in the open, huh?"

Hana shrugged and began to eat, "I don't really mind. You get that a lot when you become a hero to young gamers and a little bit of a national icon."

"I noticed. You seem to like the attention... even on the battlefield."

She snorted mildly and gave him a curious look, "You'd be surprised. It wasn't always that way."

He fell silent as she looked out toward the lights of the nearby fountain continued with a sigh, "When I was growing up, my parents weren't around much. They were always busy working and married to their corporate jobs so I spent a lot of time by myself. It's probably no surprise I took up video games as a hobby and I found that I was good at them... really good."

"So I've seen," Jason commented as he took a sip of soda to wash down some food, "You seemed right at home at that retro video arcade we stopped at earlier tonight. If you don't mind me saying... I still find it a little hard to believe the South Korean government actually recruited you gamers to pilot state of the art war machines."

"You weren't the first skeptic," Hana admitted, "I had to compete hard as a girl to prove myself to others in the hobby and I had to do the same thing when I became a MEKA pilot too."

Jason gave a pensive nod, "So why did you agree to become a pilot?"

"It seemed like the next big step, you know?" she answered looking away, "If you don't compete at those high level E-Sport tournaments, you wouldn't really understand. When I was out there competing and doing battle online... there were a lot of people watching me and cheering for me... and I liked it. A lot. I wasn't used to that feeling before and I loved it."

"I see now. So you wanted to go from a large E-Sports following to a really huge national fandom now, huh?" Jason concluded.

"Well when you say it that way, you almost make me sound really vain and selfish," Hana pouted defensively, "Is that what you're saying?"

The security officer sighed and shook his head, "Well no... it's just that it seems like this is all still kind of a fun game for you. I mean, if you think about it this is some really serious stuff we're doing. We're risking life and limb to fight against the Omnics here."

Hana put down her chopsticks and looked him in the eye, "I'm guessing you became a security officer for completely selfless reasons then? I hear being a mercenary can pay pretty well."

He frowned at being called a "mercenary" and grew a little more serious, "All right... you want to know my deal? I come from a small town in the state of Virginia. My father was in the military and fought against the Omnics when they went berserk in Detroit. I lost my Dad when I was just a kid and I didn't see my mom a whole lot either because she was busy working too."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Hana said apologetically in surprise.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Jason shrugged, "That's just the hand I was dealt. I decided I'd be like my Dad and do something to protect others so that other little kids like me didn't have to suffer the same fate."

"You joined the military?" Hana asked curiously.

He shook his head, "No. My mother made me promise I wouldn't so I aimed for a compromise. I wanted to work for Overwatch."

"Overwatch? They don't exist anymore," Hana pointed out, "They were shut down years ago, remember?"

"Which is why I wound up working for Helix Securities instead," he explained, "It was the next best thing to Overwatch and if Captain Amari was right, it can still help serve a higher purpose... at least for some of us trying to do so. Or maybe I'm just as selfish... who knows?"

Hana smiled briefly before starting to giggle and laugh, "You know... you sounded like such an old man right now. Maybe I should call you Captain America instead."

He responded with a frown and a mild huff, "Hey, I'm just trying to be serious for a minute! We're kinda teammates now. I thought were having a moment here... you know, share stuff... have some kinda heart to heart?"

She kept laughing at him while he crossed his arms, "Then what was all that about your folks just now?"

"Oh all that was still true," Hana said as she calmed down and casually began to eat again, "Honestly, I just felt you were easy enough to talk to, so I did."

"You think I'm easy to talk to? Why's that?"

She winked, "Well, for one thing you don't treat me like some star-struck fan or admirer... pretty much like everyone else in the city does. It's kinda refreshing being able to act more normal around another person."

"Yikes, this is normal for you?" he retorted with laugh earning a light kick in the shin from under the table. "Okay... I'm sorry. I promise I'll be nice now."

"Please. You're not being a very good date tonight Mr. Jason Archer," she said crossing her arms.

He stopped and sputtered a moment, "Wait... what? This isn't a..."

Hana began laughing again and gave a teasing look, "LOL! I was just kidding. Look how red your face is getting! Oh, you must like me, huh?"

Before the Helix agent could give a dignified answer, he was cut short as his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and answered only to hear Fareeha's voice, "We need you back at the base Jason. There's trouble. Is Hana with you?"

He looked to his comrade across the table from him and nodded, "She is. What's wrong?"

"There's another wave of Omnics coming toward the city and MEKA units need to scramble. I want you out there helping to back them up," Fareeha said grimly.

"Wait... what about you? Aren't you coming too?" Jason asked in confusion.

"I'm sorry Little Bird. I've got another mission objective to take care of personally. I promise I'll be back soon."

"I... understood Captain. We're on our way," Jason nodded as he ended the call and tucked his phone away. He paused and looked to Hana who regarded him with a puzzled look.

"Is something wrong?"

He rose from the table and tossed some money to cover the tab, "It looks like the Omnics are sore losers and want a rematch. Let's go!"

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Hey, I just wanted to give a quick thanks to the Guest review comment and to everyone else who started following along recently with this fic!**


	4. Clipped Wings

Sometime later, Fareeha Amari cut power from her flight suit and gently descended down from the skies as she arrived at her destination. She had crossed over the length of the city and neared the quiet remains of an empty industrial district just outside the limits of Seoul. Night had nearly fallen and Fareeha kept her senses alert. While she could use the cover of darkness to give her some degree of surprise, it didn't exactly help matters that she was essentially wearing a suit of heavy powered armor. No doubt the darkness of night and the emptiness of the derelict warehouses there were granting some advantages to the rogue radio broadcaster lurking there too.

As Fareeha touched down gently and walked toward the dark warehouses, she readied her weapon. Despite her training and experience as a soldier, she knew this was a risky situation and part of her wished she hadn't sent Jason away to help with the MEKA units. Still, another thought overrode her misgivings... feelings of protectiveness and responsibility. When she was younger, she had faced down the terrifying threat of the Omnic AI called Anubis. She knew what these technological based threats were capable of and she had comrades die in that operation to stop it, including her own commander.

In a way, she might have still held a grudge against the Omnics for that but it made her feel all the more committed toward shielding others from the threats of rogue Omnics. She would shoulder this burden by herself and protect her younger less experienced teammates like Jason or Hana from meeting the same fate as her former squadmates. She turned her focus back toward the task at hand and slipped past the outer walkways of the complex. She pushed aside a large half open door and flicked on an infrared light to see in the darkness. Despite having seen her share of scary situations in the past, she had to admit that the dark warehouse she was entering was a little on the creepy side.

As she crossed over the main floor, she stopped when she heard the distant echoing sound of metal tools clattering about. Fareeha froze and tensed up. She looked around and leveled her weapon while scanning for threats. As she turned her head, she was shocked when a purple colored light shimmered into existence right next to her. She whirled around and looked right into the malicious smiling face of a woman who looked to be the same age as her. It took a moment but Fareeha recognized the mysterious woman to be the Talon affiliated super hacker known only as Sombra.

"Boo!" Sombra cackled before she dematerialized like a ghost and startled Fareeha.

Moments later, Sombra reappeared several meters away upon some crates. She had a submachine gun drawn and aimed at Fareeha, "What's the matter _chica_? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The Hispanic hacker gave another mocking laugh before turning her aim upward and firing a spray of bullets into a small pulley which was still holding a few metal pipes and beams. The bullets of the automatic weapon sheared the cables and the heavy objects came crashing down on the surprised security officer causing her entire world to go to black.

* * *

When Fareeha finally awoke, she found her arms and legs bound tightly. To her horror, she also realized she was no longer wearing her flying Raptora suit and she had been stripped down to her regular Helix uniform underneath. She didn't know how long she had been out but her head was aching and she still shook away some stars from her field of vision.

The glow of a computer screen cast some light nearby and the familiar figure of Sombra sat behind it. When Fareeha shifted her weight to try and move, the villain heard her and spun back around in the chair. Sombra gave a predatory smile and teleported away several feet to come pace around her prisoner, "Well... look who finally decided to wake up. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Fareeha snorted in defiance, "Are you sure? I could almost swear I was in hell right now."

"Oh I can arrange that for you if you'd like," Sombra laughed as she swiftly produced her gun and pointed it directly at her prisoner's nose, "But I have a feeling my superiors wouldn't be too happy if I punched your ticket just yet. You could be useful to me as a hostage."

"You don't know me," Fareeha growled as she struggled against her restraints, "But I know you. You're the one they call Sombra... a hacker who works for those terrorists named Talon."

" _Si_! I'm impressed," Sombra purred as she retracted her weapon and continued to pace around, "It seems like my reputation is growing, even among those at your joke of a security firm. Let me be honest with you Pharah, compared to Overwatch, outsmarting Helix is child's-play... there's almost no challenge in it."

"How did you know my codename?" Fareeha gasped in horror.

Sombra only smiled wider with her snake-like expression as she walked over to her computers, "I'm a hacker remember? Information is my trade... or maybe you folks call it intelligence. Isn't that right Captain?"

Sombra pulled up Fareeha's image on the screen along with displays of her service record and citations in the Egyptian Army and Helix Securities. Fareeha took a moment to calm her anxiety before hardening her features again, "What do you want from me?"

"Simple. I want you to stay still and be a good little lure," Sombra laughed as she sat down in her chair, "You came with a friend, a younger agent with an experimental flight suit. I want the specs of it. It could be useful."

"You went to all this trouble just for the Zephyr suit?" Fareeha asked incredulously.

Sombra shook her head and reclined lazily, "No. In fact, this Zephyr suit isn't even my primary interest here. I care more about the Omnics."

Fareeha fell silent and thought it over before she looked up again, "You're the one who was sending out that strange signal. You're trying to stir up the Omnics and draw them here."

" _Exactamente_!" Sombra grinned waving a finger, "I've almost got the right signal set to draw out the Omnic I'm looking for. Colossus."

Fareeha's heart stopped a moment and she stared at the hacker in disbelief, "Colossus? You want to draw that... giant monstrosity here? Why?"

"Why else? So I can scan it and get a sense of how it works," Sombra answered calmly, "There are lots of people who would be dying to have that kind of data on such a powerful Omnic. I imagine they'd pay a very handsome price for it... maybe Talon, or maybe the United Nations defense forces?"

"You're going to sell the info to the highest bidder? Just like that? Like some mercenary?"

Sombra laughed again, "Now, now, Captain Amari... don't forget. You're technically a mercenary too. We can help each other. You just sit quietly and help me get what I need, and I'll be willing to let you go when I'm done. Think of it as professional courtesy."

Fareeha bit her lip and scowled in silence. There was nothing she could do right now but hope that Jason and Hana would be able to find her in time to stop an Omnic crisis of epic proportions.

* * *

Elsewhere, Zephyr had suited up and flew in formation alongside the South Korean MEKA units as they sortied out to meet the new wave of Omnic invaders. This time, the robots were going to make landfall further southeast of the airports on the mainland shores of Incheon. The exact location of the Omnic's coming attack was that of a large shipping harbor and inlet which would lead closer to the city. As the defenders descended from the skies and cruised low over the industrialized harbor, they could see swarms of sentry bots along with a type of Omnic that carried heavier weapons and armor. Lumbering among the weaker bots were Bastion units who were able to take a lot of punishment and transform themselves into powerful fixed weapon positions.

Jason scanned the battlefield and radioed his ally, "Hana, we've got to advance carefully and keep our distance from those Bastion droids. We may have to rely on maneuvers and drawing those tin heads out of formation."

Hana nodded and gripped the controls of her mecha, "I'll still make this look like easy mode. Try to keep up, okay?"

Before Jason could protest, Hana drove her mecha down and led her squadron into an aggressive attack vector. Zephyr cursed quietly to himself and peeled off toward the other flank of the Omnics who were coming ashore near some harbor buildings. As he swooped by and sprayed the first wave of bots with fire from his Wind Strafer rifle, Zephyr touched down and folded his wings back to shift into light infantry tactics. He caught the attention of several sentry bots and a few Bastion units and they turned to give chase to him as he ducked into the cover of large shipping containers and buildings. With any luck, he could draw some of the Omnics off and keep them occupied while Hana and the MEKA pilots could deal with the bulk of the invaders. He could only hope they were opting to fight as cautiously and smart too.

Further up the harbor, the MEKA units fanned out and engaged in a fierce battle with the Omnic invaders. Hana deftly steered her craft though a melee of sentry bots and obliterated several others with her twin fusion cannons. She gave a tense smile while she streamed her battle, "All right, game face on. Let's secure the point."

She was joined by two other mecha at her flank but gave a gasp when a blistering stream of enemy fire erupted nearby and shredded the legs off one of her allies. Hana turned in surprise and saw the Bastions approaching and some of them converted into machine gun batteries which concentrated fire on their human foes.

"Minor setback, but we can still win this. Let's go everyone!" she called while shifting tactics. She raised her defense barrier and deflected several streams of enemy fire allowing some of her squadmates to roar by and attack the heavier units. As she held her ground, she dug in and gritted her teeth as the force of the enemy fire beat back against her and threatened to overwhelm her shields. These Omnics were a lot stronger than she had expected and she began to worry for a moment that maybe she had made a mistake in being too confident and underestimating her enemy. Maybe she shouldn't have been treating this like some game when she should have put more emphasis on the threat potential of the unfamiliar robots.

She gave a gasp as her defense barrier buckled and began to give out while warning klaxons sounded. A few heavy rounds from the Bastion guns broke through the force field and hammered at the armor of Hana's mecha causing damage. She was rocked backward and lurched sideways before another of her allied mecha pilots jumped in the way to cover her and take the brunt of the focus fire.

As Hana jetted aside to safety, she gave a terrified gasp her comrade, a fellow female pilot by the name of Jae-un was battered by the fire. The mecha was severely damaged and slumped over in a smoking heap before Hana felt a surge of fury and boosted forward directly toward the offending Bastions. She mowed them down at full speed and let loose with her weapons at full auto. Despite their initial advantage, the Omnics didn't expect such a ferocious push led by Hana and paused, uncertain of how to respond to such an irrational human tactic. That opening gave the MEKA pilots just the break they needed to counterattack and force the enemy back on their heels.

While they mopped up the surprised invaders, Jason played a game of cat and mouse with his group of enemies that he had led off. He ducked behind containers and corners of buildings sniping at the sentry bots and keeping the heavier Bastions guessing where he would pop up next. He heard a lot of chaos coming from his radio feed and wondered how the MEKA unit was faring. He couldn't understand Korean, but he hoped Hana was okay and not doing anything foolish. He quickly ducked his head as a sentry bot fired at him before he went into a diving roll and gunned down the droid with his carbine. He had whittled their numbers down somewhat but he didn't have time to stall them indefinitely. He needed to clear out the Omnics now.

Zephyr locked and loaded his weapons before making a few high jumps assisted by short bursts of his Strato Booster jets. He caught the attention of his remaining pursuers and corralled them near one of the harbor's loading docks. Once they were in position, he fired the jets on full blast and opened his wings in a spinning corkscrew maneuver to blow right through them. It was a move he had been testing out back home dubbed the Cyclonic Charge and the brief vortex of swirling tornadic wind momentarily blinded the Omnics while knocking them off balance.

As the droids stumbled in disarray, Zephyr reoriented himself and let loose with a full volley of rockets and laser rifle fire. The security officer touched down gently as the blasts wiped out his robotic pursuers and he took a moment to celebrate in relief. He only wished Fareeha was around to witness the first successful attempt at that patented maneuver. Giving a sigh, he powered his jets back on again and took off to see how the rest of the battle was going.

* * *

When Jason arrived, he found that entire corner of the harbor strewn with the ruins of downed Omnics. Scores of sentry bots and Bastion units lay blasted apart, scorched, or mangled while significant sections of the harbor itself had taken heavy damage from stray fire. He could also see that several of the allied mecha looked a little worse for wear and some sported some noticeable damage to their units. As Zephyr retracted his wings and removed his helmet, he found Hana's pink mecha powered down and empty. It had taken a bit of a beating and a short distance away, he found its pilot crouching over a downed smoking mecha which had sustained heavy damage.

A few other pilots gathered around and let Jason in among them while Hana knelt over her fellow pilot inside. Her squadmate, Jae-un sat immobilized in her wrecked mecha and she whimpered quietly. The young girl was crying from fear and pain and Hana held her wounded friend's hand trying to calm her while a medical unit was radioed in to help. Again, Hana was speaking in Korean, but it almost seemed like she was apologizing to her squadmate too. After a short time, Hana got back up and walked away from the huddle. She passed Jason and stood off facing away from everyone while trying to catch her breath and regain her composure. She shuddered a few times in the cool night air and took several more deep breaths.

Jason quietly walked over to her and kept a little distance, "I'm sorry about your friend. Is she going to be okay?"

"She's hurt pretty bad," Hana replied keeping her back turned, "I... I can't help but feel I'm responsible for this."

"This is war. These things happen," Jason offered quietly, "You can't blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. People will get hurt sometimes."

"Well, what if I could have prevented that from happening?" Hana asked aloud, "What if I wasn't so eager to rush in and make the play of the game? Instead of showing off and going for all the kills, I should have been more careful and thought things through."

"Hana..."

"You were right Jason... this isn't some game," she said turning around and trying to keep a straight face. Her eyes were puffy and she wiped her nose, "I almost got someone killed out here today and I completely lost track of you during the battle too."

He nodded quietly and hesitated before reaching out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Well... don't worry about it right now. The important thing is the Omnics were stopped and that everyone is still mostly alive. A win is still a win, right?"

She gave a reluctant nod, even though she wasn't fully convinced either, "Yeah... I guess. GG."

"Come on," he replied gently, "Let's head back to the base. I'm sure Captain Amari will know what to do about all this."

* * *

Sometime later that night, the MEKA flyers who had been damaged returned to their base for repairs. Everyone was tired shell-shocked, and a little demoralized after seeing one of their own seriously injured in the battle with the tougher Bastion robots. As the mechas touched down one by one and made their way to the hangers, Zephyr glided down and landed alongside Hana as the last ones of the squadron.

After she had disengaged from her pilot's hatch, Hana let the other ground crew people take her vehicle away for servicing and walked over to join Jason as he folded his wings back and removed his flight helmet. Before the two could exchange any other words, they were surprised when Colonel Park emerged from his own office building with a concerned look on his face. He hurried over and regarded them with a quick nod, "Miss Song. Lt. Archer. Have you been in contact with Captain Amari at all?"

Jason frowned slightly in confusion, "No. She said she was off on another mission tonight. Why? Is something wrong?"

Col. Park sighed, "We had lost contact with her a few hours ago. We thought maybe one of you had managed to make radio contact with her."

"Wait, what?" Hana exclaimed in shock. Things were going from bad to worse tonight. The last thing they needed was to lose the most veteran flier there too. "Do you know if she's okay?"

Park shrugged while Jason interjected in concern, "Do you know where she was headed? Or where she might have gone?"

"We might have a lead on a location she was scouting out, but..."

Jason walked past him in a hurry and nodded, "Good. I'll need that info as soon as possible."

Hana caught his arm and stopped him a moment, "Jason, what are you doing? Where do you think you're going?"

He fixed her a serious resolute look before continuing on toward the hangers, "Fareeha is my teammate and a good friend too. If she's in danger, then I'm going back out there to help her."


	5. Airstrike

Jason Archer tucked away the small nav monitor he had gotten from some of the base's techs in order to track down Fareeha. He hadn't even bothered to take off his Zephyr suit and made ready to sortie back out again. As he quickly walked down one of the main hallways of the base which led back out to the hangers, he was stopped at the door by Hana who was waiting for him. He regarded her for a moment before trying to move past, "Excuse me Hana. I have to go."

"Too bad. I'm not letting you," she replied stubbornly as she stood her ground and blocked the doorway.

"I don't have time for this," he sighed as he tried to go again only to be stopped.

The younger pilot shook her head tiredly, "Don't do this Jason. This is stupid. You're going to get hurt out there."

He took her by the shoulders and moved her aside as gently as he could before pushing past and heading out into the hangers, "Of all people, I don't think you should be the one lecturing me about that right now."

"The hell I do!" she heatedly shouted back as she continued hurrying after him. "Lt. Archer, come back here right now!"

He stopped a moment and took a deep breath when she finally caught up. He looked her in the eye and sighed, "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I shouldn't have said that..."

Hana stopped and paused to accept the apology before waving it off, "I already got one of my wingmates hurt tonight. I don't want to be responsible for losing another one... not if I can do anything about it right now."

He stood still and nodded in quiet understanding before she continued, "It's late. We've been out all night and we need to rest. Just for a little while."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing," he argued back quietly.

"Most of our mechas are undergoing repairs... including mine," Hana countered, "Your suit probably needs some new power cells and more ammunition, right? We need to regroup and come up with a plan before we can go and save Captain Amari."

"We?" Jason asked curiously.

Hana nodded, "I'm coming with you. My mecha might be down right now but I can probably fly a loaner one here... one of the older training models."

Jason blinked in surprise, "I... thank you Hana, but you don't have to. If you're feeling guilty about earlier..."

She raised a hand to silence him, "When we were out earlier tonight, we talked about how we both might have been a little selfish in our own ways. Now is our chance to both be selfless and answer that higher calling you were talking about. We might as well start doing some good here together as teammates, right? You came to help my country in a time of need so let me return the favor for you now."

He stopped and his expression softened into a faint smile, "All right. Thanks Hana. You know... you almost sounded like a fully grown adult there for a minute."

She gave a mild huff at his gentle teasing and call back to the maturity joke over dinner. She gave him a little shove in the arm and shook her head, "Let's get one thing straight here Archer. Just because you're only a couple years older than me doesn't mean you're that much smarter. I probably just kept you from doing something you'd really regret right now."

"Fair enough," he nodded as he turned around and headed back inside to rest and rearm for early tomorrow morning. "Come on. We'll head back out at dawn so let's make the time we have here count."

* * *

Early the next morning as the dawn sun rose over South Korea, the two friends touched down on the grounds of the abandoned industrial complex where Fareeha had disappeared. Although they were looking to explore the place during the day, the overcast skies above cast a muted gray light over the area giving the place a desolate foreboding look. Jason retracted the wings of his Zephyr suit and took hold of his carbine while he studied the area, "You're sure this is the place?"

"This is the last known location the signal was coming from," Hana confirmed as she eyed her sensor console and swiveled the plain white colored loaner mecha around for a better look. "You think this is really a good idea?"

"No," he said walking forward, "But if it means finding Fareeha and getting to the bottom of all this, then we have to take that risk. For goodness sake, we've got a mecha here in case things go bad, right?"

"If I see any bad guys, they're going to get rekt for sure," Hana agreed as they made their way forward across the empty grounds.

They followed the same path that Fareeha did when scouting the grounds and they eventually entered the large derelict building. Weak light streamed in from some foggy windowpanes above as the two delved deeper into the industrial warehouse and crossed over the main floor. Eventually, they came upon Sombra's empty computer workstation and paused with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Jason keep his senses alert and scanned the surrounding area for any signs of activity, "That's odd. Somebody's obviously here."

"You can say that again," Hana replied as she took a closer look at Sombra's equipment, "Look at this rig. Whoever owns this has a pretty sick computer. I'll bet they could do some serious gaming on it."

"Oh I like games girlie," came Sombra's voice as she materialized in a flash of purple light. The Hispanic hacker stood atop a nearby catwalk overlooking Jason and Hana. The villain smoothed her hair aside and graced them with a predatory smile, "But I like toying with my prey even more."

Jason tightened his grip on his energy weapon and prepared to raise it as he took a minute to recognize his new enemy, "Wait... you're Sombra!"

" _Si_. Captain Amari has trained you well young one," Sombra cackled.

"What have you done with Pharah? Where is she?" he demanded angrily.

Sombra sighed and gave a lazy gesture across the warehouse to where Fareeha hung from a high beam. She looked to be alive and unhurt but she was completely tied up and dangling from a steel cord to keep her secure. "Your friend likes to get a bird's eye view of things so I figured I'd give her one for your demise... that is, unless you give up that new prototype suit to me."

Zephyr snorted in amusement and raised his weapon in defiance, "You've got to be kidding me. You really think you're going to make those demands when we've got you outnumbered?"

Hana moved her mech into place and readied her dual fusion cannons menacingly.

"You really think I didn't have any contingency plans in place?" Sombra countered. She snapped her fingers and Fareeha's blue Raptora battle suit roared onto the scene. To everyone else's shock, it's systems had been hacked and the suit operated independently without a pilot, albeit under Sombra's remote control. The Raptora's jets flared and the autonomous armor leveled its rocket launcher weapon at the two heroes.

"Huh... now this is kinda unfortunate," Jason gulped as Sombra stretched out and gave a lazy sneer.

"So _ninos_ , what's it going to be?"

Hana armed her weapons and jetted toward Sombra, "I say drop dead you old witch!"

Sombra teleported away to safety and rematerialized atop some nearby containers. She wore an angry scowl and sniffed toward Hana, "You're going to regret calling me old!"

She snapped her fingers and the Raptora armor sprung into action charging full speed at Jason. Zephyr gasped in shock and barely jumped out of the way with a jet propelled boost. Before he could fully regain his balance in midair, the Raptora fired a pair of rockets after him. Jason twisted his body in mid-flight and just dodged the projectiles as they streaked past and exploded behind him. The force of the blast caught him and threw him away before he could even touch the ground.

While he rolled aside in the a stunned heap, Hana squared off against Sombra and tried to track the hacker's evasive movements. Sombra shifted back and forth firing sprays of her hand held weapon and the two women found themselves in a stalemate. Sombra was too fast for Hana to get a weapons lock while Hana was too heavily armored for Sombra's weapon to do any harm.

As she dodged a spray of weapons fire from the mecha, Sombra made a tumbling leap and landed on top of Hana's mecha. The hacker grinned in sadistic glee as she reached for a nearby panel and tried to access the mecha's control systems. "Just hold still a moment girlie and you'll be all mine."

"Hey! No hitchhikers!" Hana called as she tried to shake Sombra off. The young MEKA pilot changed tactics and gripped her controls, surprising the hacker by firing her boosters upward, "Bunny hop!"

Sombra gasped as the mecha flew upwards to squash her against the ceiling. She teleported away just in time as the mecha slammed the ceiling and changed direction to hover about for a strafing attack.

Meanwhile, Jason shook the stars from his eyes as the remote controlled Raptora came in for another pass. Zephyr halted his enemy by raising his carbine and firing several energy bolts into it. Although it didn't do much damage against the heavy armor, he jetted forward and threw his weight into the Raptora with a flying shoulder tackle. The two combatants tumbled end over end in midair and crashed violently into a stack of barrels and supply crates while grappling each other. Now seizing an advantage, the Raptora grabbed Zephyr and hurled him away to the ground. He hit the floor hard and felt the wind knocked out of him while the relentless armor suit steadied itself and moved in for the kill.

As Jason groggily picked himself up, the Raptora armed its rocket launchers for a full missile volley. Before it could fire and finish its human opponent off, Zephyr opened his wings and rocketed forward with one last desperate Cyclonic Charge maneuver. The moment the Raptora fired its missiles, they were caught in the horizontal vortex of powerful whirling winds and blown off course exploding harmlessly all around them.

The corkscrewing Helix agent slammed into the Raptora again and sent it flying back against a wall before he fired a pair of his own small missile pods back at the remote controlled suit of armor. The rockets hit dead on and the close range force of the attack was enough to disable it from the fight leaving Jason face first on the ground. He lay gasping in exhaustion and relief that the desperate gambit paid off.

On the other side of the warehouse, Sombra continued to tangle with Hana and got close to the mecha unit. The hacker grunted as she reached in the panel and tried to seize control of the system again before Hana changed the direction of her next attack. "All right... if you want my mecha so badly, I'll make sure neither of us can have it."

"What are you talking about?" Sombra demanded as Hana swiveled around and aimed herself directly at the workstation with all of Sombra's computers and equipment, "What are you..."

"Self destruct sequence activated," Hana smiled as she disengaged from the pilot's hatch and fired her boosters forward. "Nerf this!"

Sombra gave a startled cry as the empty mecha flew forward and plowed into all her equipment destroying it. As it barreled end over end and rocketed into the far wall, Sombra teleported away just as the suit detonated into a tremendous explosion. The force knocked everyone off balance and blew a large hole clean through the industrial warehouse. As the shockwaves subsided and the smoke and flames died down, Sombra reappeared near the ruins of her workstation staring in horror. Her computers and her Omnic signal were all destroyed just like that. Before she could do anything else, she was thrown to the ground as she was hit in the shoulder by the bolt of an energy weapon.

Sombra hissed in pain from the burning in her arm while Hana stood triumphantly covering her with a small pink sidearm. "Give it up witch."

"This isn't over. Not by a long shot," Sombra growled as she teleported away and retreated from the battlefield.

Hana scowled and lowered her energy weapon before turning back around and making sure her comrade was okay. She walked back across the warehouse and saw Jason hovering down from the rafters carrying Captain Amari to safety. Once they were safely on the ground, they undid the cords binding Fareeha and removed the gag from her mouth.

"Jason. Hana. Thank you," Fareeha gasped while catching her breath, "I'm so glad to see the both of you."

"Are you all right Captain?" Jason asked his friend in concern as he checked her hands and looked for any signs of injury.

Fareeha nodded, "I'm all right, but we have a bigger problem to worry about. Sombra's the one who has been stirring up the Omnics to threaten Korea."

Hana blinked in confusion, "What? Her? How was she doing that?"

Fareeha raised a calm hand to quiet her before continuing, "She's been using a special radio signal and projector to transmit to the Omnics. That's what was attracting them here."

Hana shook her head, "I still don't understand. Why would she want to do that? What's she up to?"

Fareeha cast a solemn gaze toward them, "She wanted to draw out the ultimate prize. She was trying to call out Colossus. Once Sombra had a scan of its systems, she was going to sell that data to the highest bidder and if South Korea would be sacrificed, then so be it."

Hana clenched her fists and nodded before looking over to the ruins of Sombra's workstation, "Luckily, it looks like that old witch won't be transmitting her signal any more."

Jason turned to Fareeha and narrowed his own eyes, "You shouldn't have tried to go after Sombra alone Captain. That was dangerous and you gave us all a huge scare."

Fareeha nodded apologetically, "I'm sorry. It probably wasn't one of my better decisions, but if there was an Omnic AI at work here, I didn't want any of you younger ones getting hurt... or worse. Not if I could help it."

"Unfortunately the only one who got hurt was your battle suit," Jason said gesturing over to the damaged Raptora suit lying in the corner. Fareeha got up and walked over to inspect the suit before giving a nod.

"It's a little worse for wear right now, but I think it can still fly. You fought well today Little Bird."

"Do you think I can graduate to a less embarrassing name?" Jason sighed as Hana giggled from nearby, "If I'm going to be a full fledged hero, I think that's a reasonable request."

"I assume you'll want to drop some corny heroic catch phrase too?" Hana teased him gently, "Up, up, and away?"

Jason shook his head, "Nah, I was thinking something like Never fear, the cavalry's here."

Fareeha and Hana looked to one another and grimaced, "Nope. That'll never catch on."

At that moment, their banter was broken up as a signal came in over their comms. It was Colonel Park and he sounded fearful, "Lt. Archer, Hana, are you there?"

"We're here Colonel," Hana answered quickly, "We're okay. We've saved Captain Amari and chased off the enemy. You're not going to have to worry about that Omnic signal any more."

"I think you may have to rethink that," Colonel Park answered as he kept a fearful eye on one of his monitors back in his base, "We've got a big problem."

Fareeha looked to her two younger comrades and then radioed back, "I don't understand Colonel. What's the situation? What's wrong?"

The shaking voice of the Colonel replied and caused everyone's blood to suddenly run cold, "The signal... it must have been on just long enough... because it worked. We just picked up a giant enemy signature headed toward Seoul from the ocean. The Colossus is on its way."

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **All right, one more chapter before I close this out. With any luck, I'll try to have the last chapter up and ready in a week or so. For anyone reading, thanks again for the patience and staying with the story this far!**


	6. Prevailing Winds

Upon returning to the airbase, Fareeha and her two younger allies were met with the sight of a general scramble. Despite not getting complete repairs, several of the damaged mechas were hastily refueled and rearmed for a new battle that was about to take place. While ground crews and technicians rushed to prepare the war machines, the MEKA pilots who were present all suited up and were given very quick briefings on what was going on.

After landing on the grounds, Fareeha and Jason handed over their flight suits to the ground crews so that that they could get their weapons reloaded and receive a few quick repairs. The three walked into the main hall of the base where a very flustered Colonel Park was hastily directing his staff to various tasks. The older military commander turned in surprise when he saw them and came over to greet the new arrivals.

"Captain Amari… you're back. Are you okay?" he asked in shock

Fareeha nodded quickly, "Yes, thanks to my two comrades here. What's our status?"

Park turned back to a desk with some computers and monitors before showing them the developments. The others gathered around and watched the monitors in shock as a colossal Omnic robot lumbered toward the coastline of the Korean peninsula. It sported a similar faceless design as the lesser drones save for a large round optical sensor in red glass. The giant cyclopean robot moved slowly but surely while a small cloud of flying Omnic drones buzzed around it in close order.

On the shoreline, the Korean army and navy were already embroiled in a fight against a fresh wave of advance Omnic drones which led the vanguard of the Colossus's assault. A number of heavy artillery pieces and missile launchers were moved to the coast and they fired blistering volleys of fire on the giant monstrosity but it was to no avail. The artillery and missiles were not strong enough to halt the heavily armored Colossus much less damage it in any significant way.

"The situation is not looking good," Park said while running a hand through his short hair, "We've already engaged the first wave on Omnics and the defense forces are pinned down. We're throwing everything we have that giant but it's not doing any good at all."

Hana kept her eyes fixed on the screen, "Look at how many Omnic drones are out there. How is that even possible?"

Park gestured to the screen and magnified the view of the Colossus, "Do you remember how we thought there was an Omnium hidden somewhere under the water? You're looking at it."

On the screen, everyone watched as a few vents from the side of the Colossus opened and more Omnic drones sortied out.

Jason't heart skipped a beat as he looked on in dread, "Hold on… are you saying that giant monster is an Omnic factory too?

Park nodded, "It looks that way son… a self replicating war machine. Now it all makes sense why it was hiding and able to launch continuous attacks against us."

"The question is, how do we take that beast down?" Fareeha frowned pensively. "If we can't penetrate the armor from the outside, perhaps we can destroy it from the inside? Maybe one of those launching hatches will offer us a way inside."

"It's a risky move," Jason agreed with a grim nod, "But it might work. We'll need to bring some concentrated firepower in to cut a path through those guard drones."

Park scratched his chin, "The MEKA unit might be able to do just that. They should have enough speed, range, and firepower to get you where you need to be. Miss Song?"

Everyone turned to Hana who had been frozen in dread watching the relentless onslaught of the Omnics. Her mind began replaying the prior night's battle with her fellow pilot and teammate Jae-un being severely injured. The MEKA unit had struggled against those Bastions and now even more force was being brought to bear by the enemy. She hated the thought of seeing more of her fellow pilots and gamers being hurt or killed. She didn't like the idea of harm coming to these new friends of hers from Helix either. Hana Song's usual bravado and self confidence had seemingly evaporated and for a minute, she was gripped by the feelings of genuine fear and uncertainty.

She blinked and turned to everyone hesitantly, "I… I'm not so sure I can…"

"Hana, we need you here," Fareeha said with a steady voice, "The other MEKA pilots will follow you. They trust you."

"Maybe they shouldn't," she said quietly, "After I almost got Jae-un killed yesterday… maybe I shouldn't trust myself either."

"If you don't trust yourself, then that's when people will start getting killed for sure," Jason answered with an equally level expression toward her, "You might not trust your own abilities right now, but I will. I've seen you fly and fight and I know you can do this."

"The safety of your home is at stake here Hana," Fareeha added gently, "And by extension, all of ours too. If we can do something to try and stop that monster, then we have to take that chance together."

Hana paused and looked to her two new allies before glancing to Colonel Park, and the rest of the fearful staff of the base. Having been tempered by the words of her new friends, she took several deep breaths and steeled her resolve, "All right… let's do this."

* * *

Upon receiving their flight suits back, Jason and Fareeha took off into the air and joined in formation with the rest of the MEKA unit led by Hana. She had retaken the helm of her pink mecha and she was grateful to be back at the controls of her own custom war machine again. After a short flight, the allies neared the coastline and could see a fierce battle already in progress. Artillery and missile batteries kept up their attack on the Colossus as it came within dangerous range of the beach. Korean tanks and soldiers were locked in a fierce firefight with the Omnic ground drones while a few navy ships tried to provide supporting fire. The Colossus walked right through the attacks and brought its titanic feet down on a few of the ships instantly crushing them. The giant Omnic sowed fear and chaos among the ranks of the Korean military, the MEKA unit and the Helix agents swooped in low from the skies to form up into an attack run.

"Boosters forward everyone! Let's own these noobs!" Hana called to her pilots as the mechas shifted formation and began to let loose with a stream of fire from their fusion cannons.

Jason and Fareeha fired their own guns and added to the effort of cutting through the cloud of flying drones. Flames and metallic shrapnel flew everywhere as the attackers pushed closer toward the Colossus. As they got close, they saw the Colossus release a new swarm of drones and Fareeha moved to try and swoop into the hatch while Jason and Hana cleared her way. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough as the hatches closed again and shielded the giant's torso with its thick metal armor. As they regrouped and the MEKA unit created a defensive bubble formation, Hana growled, "Damn! What now?"

Fareeha scanned the Colossus for more targets or weakspots until her sight fell upon its optical sensor. She fired her jump jets and flew toward the giant's head, "Follow me. Hana, get ready to charge and raise your defense barrier."

While the MEKA unit continued to fight off the swarm, the three heroes flew toward the giant Omnic's head before Fareeha squared up and locked on the giant cyclopean optical sensor. "Get ready to charge on my mark. Jason, cover her."

Fareeha readied all the rockets her Raptora suit could muster and unloaded them all in a brilliant missile volley. "Now!"

The two younger fliers followed the missiles as they slammed into the giant Omnic's glass eye bubble and exploded. As Hana raised her barrier and plowed through, she and Jason crashed through the glass eye and found themselves within the automaton's head. As the cloud of smoke, fire, and debris died down, the two found themselves in what looked to be a large wide chamber. The interior of the Colossus's head was filled with pipes, moving gears, circuit boards, and other churning parts. Near the center of the head, Jason and Hana could see a large pillar with a slew of cables attached to it. If they had to guess, that structure was likely the central core processor of the Colossus.

Jason leveled his carbine and fired a spray of energy bolts which cut through some of the other machinery and pipes leading toward the computer core. "That thing must be the brain of the Colossus! Maybe if we can take that thing out…"

Hana stopped him as the two watched in horror while other robotic arms came out and quickly began repairing the damage that he had done. At the rate that the auto repair systems worked, it would be nearly impossible to just blast their way through by brute force.

"Okay… now we need a Plan C, except I'm fresh out of ideas," Jason grimaced as he tried to shoot away at the core again.

Hana looked around and then focused on the core again. That's when an idea hit her. She would defeat this Omnic the same way she had bested Sombra. "I've got an idea, but I need you to cover me."

* * *

Outside of the Colossus, the battle continued to rage and Fareeha wove her way through the aerial melee. She batted aside a few drones and shot down a few others before rolling clear of some stray fire. As she moved to regroup with some of the MEKA units buzzing around the zone, a transmission came in from Col. Park, "Captain Amari, we just lost the signals from Zephyr and D. VA. What happened?"

"They're okay... I think," Fareeha answered nervously as she watched another missile volley from the shore rock the Colossus, "They've made it inside the Omnic and are trying to blow it from within. Stand by."

* * *

Back inside the gargantuan Omnic's head, cogs continued to turn and machinery whirred while Jason fired his rifle and launched a pair of rockets at the machinery blocking the way. As he kept the auto repair systems occupied, Hana pressed a few buttons on her own mecha's control panels. This was going to be a risky plan and a bit of an insane gamble, but at this point it was all they had left. She aimed her mecha straight for the exposed core and slipped out the rear escape hatch of her craft, "All right Colossus, you picked the wrong gamer to mess with. Nerf this!"

As she dropped free from the rear hatch, the mecha fired its jets and roared forward plowing past all the machinery in the way like a wrecking ball. Both Hana and Jason stopped and watched with wide eyes as the rogue mecha broke through and crashed directly into the central processor core of the titanic Omnic. It only took a few moments before the pink mecha detonated into a terrific explosion which rocked the entire structure of the head and blasted apart all the machinery around it.

No sooner did the erupting fireball begin to grow, Jason turned and extended the wings of his Zephyr suit, "All right, time to jet!"

Without waiting, he scooped a surprised Hana up and blasted off for the gaping hole that they had entered from. As Zephyr rocketed toward the escape point carrying Hana, everything around them began to collapse and incinerate from the quickly expanding explosion brought on by the self destructed mecha. The air grew harsh and the searing heat began to lick at them just as they blew past the gaping hole of the Colossus's great optical lens. The MEKA units and South Korean military stopped and ceased fire as great plumes of smoke and fire erupted from the head of the Colossus and engulfed it in a brilliant explosion.

The blast tore deeper through the upper torso and set off multiple secondary explosions within the Omnic. Black gouts of smoke began to billow from the gaping wounds as the mortally wounded Omnic stopped and collapsed to its knees before falling forward into the shoreline. While the explosions occurred, Jason and Hana burst free from the shattered eye of the Colossus but some stray shrapnel tore through one of Zephyr's wings throwing them violently out of control in midair.

Hana gave a scream as she went tumbling free in midair while Jason careened off in another direction. His helmet's visor was cracked and his jet engine was failing as he spiraled out of control, both panicking from his own situation and at losing his grip on Hana. He spun in free fall for a few more heart stopping moments before he felt a pair of hands seize him and steady him in midair. He gasped in shock trying to figure out what was happening or who had just saved him. To his complete amazement, he saw that he had been caught by a beautiful blonde woman with a winged Valkyrie suit. For a moment, it looked like he had been saved by some kind of guardian angel, but also a familiar looking one whose face he couldn't quite recognize yet either.

"You saved me... thank you," he stammered dumbly as the angel carried him from behind and gently set him down on the sandy beach away from the rest of the Korean defense forces.

As Jason removed his cracked helmet, he looked up at the woman as she smiled and gave a little wink, "Heroes never die. Not unless I can help it. You might not be Overwatch, but I think some of those heroics back there could qualify you for membership."

Jason blinked again before regaining the use of his brain, "I... wait... you're from Overwatch, aren't you? I grew up idolizing you guys! You're Angela Ziegler! Mercy!"

She gave a pleased little nod at the recognition and dipped her head slightly before a few more of Angela's fellow Overwatch agents approached from the lip of a large sand dune. Accompanying her was a man in a Stetson cowboy hat with Western attire along with a lithe younger woman wearing goggles and a bomber jacket. That could only mean one thing... they were two more iconic figures from the original Overwatch team: Jesse McCree and Lena "Tracer" Oxton.

McCree smiled genially and tilted his hat slightly to get a better look at the scene unfolding further down the beach, "Well I'll be. Looks like we got here a little too late to help. I reckon the Omnics aren't gonna be bothering anyone now."

Lena bounded over and gave Jason a cheerful yet informal little salute, "Cheers love, the cavalry's still here if you need us."

The exhausted young man beamed, unsure if he was more delirious from surviving a near death experience or getting to meet some of the heroes he grew up admiring in real life. "I... thank you everyone. You're Tracer and McCree! I can't believe this! It's an honor to meet you."

Lena shook his hand with a smile followed by McCree who nodded with a grin, "Howdy. You're an American too?"

"Yes sir," Jason replied, "Lt. Jason Archer of Helix Securities."

"I see. Those are some nice duds there kiddo. Or at least they used to be," McCree noted with a curious look.

Jason glanced down at the scorches and dents of his ruined Zephyr suit, along with the shorn off right wing. It was at that moment he remembered the aftermath of the battle and he feared the worst for Hana. He had lost his grip on her and while he was fortunate enough to be saved by the seemingly divine intervention of an Overwatch hero, he wondered if she was okay. His concerns were put to rest as he saw Fareeha "Pharah" Amari glide down gently carrying Hana to safety.

Fareeha touched down on the sands wearing a relieved smile as Hana let go of her and gave a giddy laugh when she spotted Jason not too far away with the Overwatch agents. Jason tossed the heavy armor off his flight suit underneath and jogged over to greet his two friends as they came to reunite with him.

Fareeha grinned and gave a proud nod to her younger teammate before Hana threw her arms around his neck and almost knocked him down with a relieved hug. "Jason! Thank goodness you're alive! That was a totally insane stunt you pulled back there! What were you thinking?"

"I could say the same to you," he laughed hugging her back, "You're welcome by the way."

Before Hana could laugh in reply, Fareeha closed in and surprised them both by acting like a mother bird. She put her wing-like arms around them and folded the two in a quick group hug. "I think that was the play of the game right there."

As the three let go of each other and savored the relieved moment of victory, Fareeha stopped when she saw the Overwatch agents walk over. She turned to Jason, "Friends of yours, Little Bird?"

"Something like that," he said nodding toward Mercy who stepped forward graciously.

"Whatever you may be thinking about Overwatch, we didn't come to cause any harm," Angela said gently, "We heard the Omnics were threatening the peninsula so we came to offer some help. I see you three have things well under control."

She gestured out to the coastline where the Korean defense forces were standing down and the MEKA units were withdrawing from the area. The Omnic drones had all gone silent and inert as the titanic robotic monster once known as the Colossus lay smoldering in the sands like some macabre monument. Fareeha took one more look at the ruins of the Colossus and turned back to the Overwatch agents, "Thank you again for saving my teammate today. If there's any way I can repay you..."

Angela smiled again and placed a small communicator device in Fareeha's hand, "You know, Lena here has told me that the world could always use more heroes. After what I saw you three do today, I'm inclined to believe her. If things don't work out for you at Helix, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We wouldn't mind the help either."

Fareeha tucked the communicator device away and nodded as the Overwatch agents prepared to depart. McCree tipped his hat and began walking off hand in hand with Angela while Lena gave one more wave and blinked away out of sight. After watching them go, Fareeha turned to her two younger teammates and gave a tired smile, "I think we should follow the example of Overwatch right now. It's been a long day. Let's go home."

* * *

Over the course of the next several days, Fareeha, Jason, and Hana were all debriefed and had to make reports of everything that had happened in the battle with the Colossus. All of them also made it a point to conveniently omit their meeting with the Overwatch agents to keep the group of vigilante heroes safe from detection too. When all was said and done, the three were released and given several days worth of leave time to take in everything that had happened and decompress from the harrowing battles they had just fought.

On her last morning in Korea before being recalled to Helix, Fareeha went outside and stood out on the quiet airfield as the early morning sun began to peek over the horizon. She had packed her bags and was waiting for a transport truck to take her and Jason back to the airport, but she decided to get a chance to take in a little more of the peace and quiet first. She looked to the heavens and saw that the skies were clear and calm as a gentle wind touched her skin for a moment. Her moment of meditation was then broken as Jason strolled out of the barracks to come join her, "Hey. There you are. Is everything okay?"

Fareeha nodded, "Everything is fine. I was just thinking about everything that happened recently... about Sombra, the Omnics, and Overwatch."

Jason nodded quietly and stood by her, enjoying a peaceful moment of looking at the skies too, "It's really pretty, isn't it? Despite everything that's happened, I'm gonna kinda miss being here."

Fareeha chuckled, "I know what you mean. We did a lot of good, didn't we?"

Her younger companion nodded again quietly before another companionable silence fell between them. She reached into her pocket and handed him the Overwatch communicator, "I know what you're going to ask next and the answer is yes... I had been thinking a lot about it too, as well as the things you told me on the plane ride here."

Jason looked at the communicator and studied it, "But what you told me before had some merit too. Maybe Helix isn't Overwatch, but it's still a means to an end. We can still do good where we can, and that doesn't mean we can't still help out Overwatch when they need it too. We can be like deputies or junior members...you know, have the best of both worlds?"

"Maybe you're right," Fareeha sighed, "Either way, I think it's best that you be the one to hold on to that.

At that moment, the transport truck pulled up near the barracks and some airmen began loading Fareeha and Jason's bags along with their Raptora and Zephyr suits. As they walked to the truck, Jason sighed, "It's too bad I didn't have enough time to really go over the data from the Zephyr suit. It saw a lot of action here and did pretty well... but it also took a hell of a beating."

"I'm sure Commander Stone will understand," Fareeha said, "It's all in the name of science. Still, I think I'd be a little more worried about answering to someone else there."

She pointed over to where Hana Song and several of the other MEKA pilots had come out to say goodbye to their new friends and fire-forged allies. While several of the pilots pulled Fareeha aside and spoke to her, Hana marched up to Jason and put her hands on her hips, "You weren't planning on leaving without saying goodbye to me, were you Jason Archer?"

"The thought never crossed my mind," he chuckled raising his hands in mock defensiveness, "I haven't seen you around here these last few days. I'm guessing you were at the hospital visiting your fellow pilot... the one who got hurt?"

Hana nodded, "Yes. The doctors say that Jae-un should make a full recovery, but it's going to take a while. She's got a lot of rehab ahead of her, but I guess it's a small blessing she's still alive, right?"

"I'm glad to hear it," he said with a smile, "I hope you plan to stay out of trouble around here too, especially with the Omnics defeated."

"If you're that worried about me, you can always come back and check in on things from time to time," she retorted with a smile.

"Oh... well, you're right. We wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong ideas now. Just because we worked well together here, people might start to think we like each other or something."

Hana laughed gently before reaching up and giving him a hug and a quick kiss on the lips, "Have a safe trip. Keep in touch all right? You have my screen name?"

"Yeah... it'll give me a good reason to start playing video games in the mean time," he winked before he headed toward the truck with Fareeha.

The older Helix agent simply smiled and rolled her eyes quietly as they got in the backseat of the truck and began to drive away from the base. As the soft glow of the sunrise continued to light up the morning skies, the two Helix agents looked again at the Overwatch marked device that they carried with them. They weren't quite sure what their future held in store or what dangers and battles lay ahead. For now at least, they could see that their skies were clear as the light of a brand new day began to shine and the winds of change began to blow once more.

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Thanks again for sticking it out and reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed the story too. I know I did some unusual things for an Overwatch fic, but if you liked the story, feel free to let me know. I'd love to hear from you!**


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